This is it. Camellia sinensis, the plant that is harvested to produce tea. Well, not this plant, per se, as this little plant is my very own precious tea plant, a gift from my sister last June. I've been nurturing it, talking to it, watering it, admiring it, misting it, just about everything I can think of to coax it to grow. It has a few little new sprouts, it wants to do something big, but it seems to hold back. Okay, so Pennsylvania doesn't have the ideal growing conditions for a Camellia sinensis plant, but I'm hopeful it will grow into a larger more impressive plant! I'm tossing this out to the blogging community to inquire if anyone has any suggestions, ideas, recommendations, that I should try in an effort to encourage, perhaps even inspire, my little starter plant to grow.Friday, March 30, 2012
Camellia sinensis
This is it. Camellia sinensis, the plant that is harvested to produce tea. Well, not this plant, per se, as this little plant is my very own precious tea plant, a gift from my sister last June. I've been nurturing it, talking to it, watering it, admiring it, misting it, just about everything I can think of to coax it to grow. It has a few little new sprouts, it wants to do something big, but it seems to hold back. Okay, so Pennsylvania doesn't have the ideal growing conditions for a Camellia sinensis plant, but I'm hopeful it will grow into a larger more impressive plant! I'm tossing this out to the blogging community to inquire if anyone has any suggestions, ideas, recommendations, that I should try in an effort to encourage, perhaps even inspire, my little starter plant to grow.
Let me say up front that I claim *zero* real gardening expertise here, but ... I was given a tea plant that just sort of withered when I had it indoors, but planted outside it has flourished and is growing and has produced several new plants already! (And yes, I realize Georgia and Pennsylvania are two very different growing regions!) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI've had my camellia sinensis for about two years now. It is alive but not thriving. I feel fortunate to get it through the winter months, even indoors where it won't freeze. It seems to do well in the spring and summer though. I look forward to advice you receive about making yours flourish --- because I'd really like to know the secret! :D
ReplyDeleteI have no advice to offer, but how nice to have a tea plant [be it large or small] to display in your tea room. Your customers probably love seeing it. I'd like to have one, but it wouldn't like Michigan weather either[with the exception of our humid summers]. Mary Jane
ReplyDeletehas one, so maybe she has some growing tips to share.
We have one that is going through a growth spurt right now. It came from Marmalady's husband and his advice was to give it a dose of organic fertilizer in the spring. We have done that and it's taking off! We keep it indoors in the winter and on the patio in the summer.
ReplyDeleteWe have three tea plants in our yard and we give them very little care. If it were in the house my husband would say fish fertilizer. I asked about the ones outdoors and he said he just gives them rose food when he is feeding the roses. Our temperatures are milder than Pennsylvania, so we can have them out doors. That's the only information I have gotten from my live in gardener.
ReplyDelete